Naff looking stripped & danish oil'd door

muskoka

Had doors dipped & stripped. They originally were covered in Shellac & then tons of coats of paint.

So dipped, then sanded, then danish oil'd BUT looks a bit naff? Anyone please advise why? I must be doing something wrong....:eek:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/685/dscn0781i.jpg/

P.S. Lousy pic too - sorry. Believe it to be original Hemlock door

Auntie-Dolly

I always thought (& please correct me if I'm wrong) that unless the joinery was a high quality hardwood such as oak or mahogany it would be painted rather than left bare. Perhaps you just dont get a good finish with pine and hemlock etc.

phill99

I think you may find thatthe problem lays woith the timber.

Prior to WW2, alot of houses were built with doors, frames, architraves, skirting etc that was made from low quality timner. Match wood (literally a poor grade of timber used for matches) was used but was never designed to be seen in its bnautural form eg waxed, oiled, varnished etc. It was always aniticipated that the tomber work would be shellaced, painted etc, but certainly never to be seen in its 'raw' form.

So many years on when its highly trendy to have stripped timber and pine look scatter cushions, people think that they will expose beautiful timber doors which are cryng out to be stripped and that simply aint the case!!

muskoka

Could be Phil, BUT the architrave & skirting has come up absolutely beautifully. Hence, I'm wondering what I've done wrong with the doors? Skirting/architrave was all stripped by hand/sander. And yes, it is pre-war

bifold

I would have stripped,sanded and used sanding sealer then waxed finished.that said your doors might have been scrubled and comb finished in the 1930's I quite like that finish.

phill99

Were they dipped? That will really dry the timber out so could have an impact on whatever you finish them with.

muskoka

Yes, they were dipped and the grain opened, but we sanded the grain back flat. The door just looks so much darker than it did when it was pre-danish oil'd.

I REALLY hope we don't end up having to paint these doors, but at the moment looks like the 'dark hole of calcutta'

Here's a different door - post dipped, but nothing else done to it yet. The first link (above post) is the first door we tried to danish oil & was the door in the best condtion.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/dscn0624a.jpg/

HelenDaveKids

When we did ours they looked amazing. I did all the skirting and architry as well, all looked fab. However when i did the lounge skirting the wood wasn't the same and it looked dreadful.

phill99

muskoka wrote: »

Yes, they were dipped and the grain opened, but we sanded the grain back flat. The door just looks so much darker than it did when it was pre-danish oil'd.

I REALLY hope we don't end up having to paint these doors, but at the moment looks like the 'dark hole of calcutta'

Here's a different door - post dipped, but nothing else done to it yet. The first link (above post) is the first door we tried to danish oil & was the door in the best condtion.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/dscn0624a.jpg/

but you can tell that the panels are not the same timber as the frames. The panels may well be an early form of plywood. Plywood certainly predates ww2 and again, plywood is not designed for raw finishing, but painting etc.

muskoka

phill99 wrote: »

but you can tell that the panels are not the same timber as the frames. The panels may well be an early form of plywood. Plywood certainly predates ww2 and again, plywood is not designed for raw finishing, but painting etc.

I agree the panels do look a lot darker. Looks like I may be losing the battle here- not given up yet though.

Please keep posting ideas/thought - all much appreicated

phill99

Even if you try to stain them all the same colour, there will still be variations as you are starting from 2 different base wood colours. I think painting its painting or changing them.